Hillary Clinton to face skeptical voters in Iowa

Clinton conundrum:Hillary Clinton is scheduled to speak Sunday at Democratic events in Iowa, the first presidential nominating state. As The Wall Street Journal reports, she’s got some work cut out for her. Some Democrats who backed other candidates in the state’s caucuses in 2008 say they haven’t warmed to the former secretary of state. Others didn’t like her recent criticism of President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy. And some say they want to see a more accessible and authentic candidate than the one who finished third behind Obama and former Sen. John Edwards.

Next up: Biden: Maybe that authentic candidate is Joe Biden? The Des Moines Register reported late Thursday that the vice president is making an official White House visit to Iowa just three days after Hillary Clinton basks in the media spotlight there. As the Register says, Biden’s visit will remind people he was the star of the Harkin Steak Fry just a year ago. The event, which Clinton is also attending, is given by retiring Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin.

Whopper of a flop: President Obama and his Democratic allies hoped to capitalize on the recent wave of tax “inversions” – those deals in which companies leave the U.S. to cut their tax bill – as a populist issue. In this Politico piece’s telling, the issue hasn’t become the political whopper Democrats dreamed of. Instead, it’s a massive dud. Almost no one is talking about the issue on the campaign trail; there’s little chance legislation will advance or be voted on before the November elections; and some analysts say unilateral actions from the White House could even be deemed illegal.

Collateral damage: U.S. sanctions announced Thursday targeting Russia’s financial, defense and energy sectors were designed to punish the Kremlin for stoking the military conflict in Ukraine. They will also hit a major U.S. oil company, Exxon Mobil Corp. The Wall Street Journal reports the new penalties would affect Exxon’s drilling in the Kara Sea with its Kremlin-controlled partner, OAO Rosneft. Details of the sanctions are set to be released later Friday.

More Obamacare, not less: Democrats running in five highly competitive governors’ races this year have vowed to expand Medicaid coverage through Obamacare if elected, the Hill reports. If successful, it would mean 1.7 million new people getting covered – and have a dramatic effect on the federal budget. Expanding Medicaid in Florida, Maine, Kansas, Wisconsin and Georgia could result in $120 billion in new funds spent on coverage over the next decade.